Dakota Goyo reaches for the stars

Dakota Goyo's recent eighth birthday party will be a hard one to top: a red carpet Hollywood party and the premiere of Resurrecting the Champ (which opens today) in which he has his first major film role.

Dakota Goyo's recent eighth birthday party will be a hard one to top: a red carpet Hollywood party and the premiere of Resurrecting the Champ (which opens today) in which he has his first major film role.

"How am I going to beat that next year? There'll be no Chuck E. Cheese, that's for sure," said proud mom Debra Goyo, a former model/singer who also manages the careers of her two older sons, Dallas, 13, and Devon, 11.

Dakota was looking forward to reuniting with castmates Josh Hartnett, who plays his sportswriter father, Kathryn Morris, who plays his mother, and Samuel L. Jackson who plays the homeless washed-up boxing "Champ" of the title.

"I'm really happy that I'll see (the other actors) again. But when the movie's over, you're like so sad that you have to leave," said Dakota.

Oldest brother Dallas, whose interest in acting has waned with the onset of puberty, had another reason for wanting to attend the Hollywood party earlier this week.

Attending a Hollywood premiere seems exciting enough for young Dakota but there's yet another premiere in his future.

Emotional Arithmetic – starring Susan Sarandon, Roy Dupuis, Christopher Plummer and Max von Sydow – which he filmed last fall in Quebec's Eastern Townships just after completing Resurrecting the Champ – has been selected to close the Toronto International Film Festival next month.

In the past year, Dakota also had a role in a TV pilot called Ultra, which wasn't picked up by a network, and had to turn down other projects.

Why the sudden demand for a cherubic blond boy with a shy smile and a dimpled cheek?

"I just think (Dakota) had a really great year last year," offered Debra Goyo.

Dakota has been appearing in commercials since a very young age and seems to take to the cameras like a fish to water.

Debra, who preps her sons for roles, said the life of a stage mom isn't as easy as it looks.

"I'm not sure everybody understands the amount of work that goes into it. They think it's really quite easy and it's not. It's a lot of long hours, a lot of night shoots ... a lot of preparing Dakota for auditions and learning really long scripts. It's not easy and at one point, (Dakota) wasn't reading yet," she said.

The family is also careful about what projects Dakota takes on.

"I'm pretty particular about the contents of the (scripts). I want him to grow up and be proud of the work he's done," Debra added.

Director Rod Lurie saw hundreds of youngsters to find an actor to play Teddy in Resurrecting the Champ and still wasn't happy. When a last-minute audition tape of Dakota arrived, Lurie immediately asked that he come to Calgary, where the initial filming began.

"They went for a walk together and they didn't come back for quite a while. And (Lurie) said to me right then, `This is the kid I want,'" Debra recalled.

Dakota had an on-set tutor during filming – as required by union rules – his own trailer and even a chair with his name on it.

Debra said her son was particularly interested in watching the playbacks of the scenes he had just filmed, loved to play chess with director Lurie and got a piggyback ride to the set every day from Hartnett, part of the bonding experience that made their father-son scenes in the film seem so genuine and heartfelt.

Dad David Goyo, who said he's getting used to playing Mr. Mom, pointed out returning home from the film shoot requires a bit of a cooling-off period for a young actor used to being treated like a movie star on set.

"It takes about a week adjustment period. On the set, everything is always given to (actors) and done for them," he said.

But Debra insists that Dakota won't be allowed to let fame go to his head.

"When he's home, he's Dakota. He still has his chores, he has to make his bed every morning. He has to keep his marks at a certain place. If he doesn't do well in school, he doesn't get to act," she said.

There are some perks that come with acting: Dakota has an ATV, a dirt bike and a horse named Tess, which is boarded at a nearby stable.

"Some of my friends say, `That's very cool.' I want to keep acting. I'll be acting probably until I get a lot older," said Dakota, who also thinks he might one day be a director.

Still, Debra said, his schoolmates help to keep him humble.

"Dakota has a tendency to sing during class at school ... while he's doing his work. It's really cute because some of the little girls get really annoyed and they'll say, `Dakota, when are you making a movie again?'" she said with a laugh.

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